The Lumos Bike Helmet

Winner of the James Dyson award for student invention, this ‘next generation’ Lumos bike helmet aims to increase the safety and visibility of road city cyclists at night.

While this probably won’t take off in Holland, it could be a valuable innovation in cities that are not designed for cyclists. Essentially, by giving bicycles the ability to indicate their movement via lights just like a car would, it acts as a measure to improve the integration of vehicles and cyclists on the roads.

It does this by using integrated LED lights to indicate turning and braking; which are controlled by an integrated accelerometer, and a remote control situated on the bike handlebars.

It is designed principally for city commutes, and the founder explains his motivation that “cyclists regularly cited riding with traffic as a troublesome but necessary part of their ride.”

As much of the problem with urban cycling is lack of visibility and unpredictable movements, this aims to address that by increasing communication between bike and driver; increased understanding. It also means that cyclists can keep their hands on the handlebars, instead of flailing them around to indicate direction when at their most vulnerable at intersections.

Although perhaps not useful in cities like Copenhagen or Groningen that are already well-suited to urban cycling, this could be a good measure for cities like London, which are in the interim stages of increasing levels of urban cycling. It might even be a better idea to fit bikeshare schemes with helmets like this, rather than the paper helmets featured previously.

Anything that can reduce the incidence of ‘sorry mate I didn’t see you’ type accidents is a good thing in our book.

Have you used this helmet? Let us know your thoughts on it in the comments below.